On
November 3, 1918. Almost 99
years ago near Marly France, a
short ways from Valenciennes,
my great-great uncle Louis was being moved in a horse drawn ambulance from 1
Canadian Casualty Clearing Station to 42 Casualty Clearing Station in France. He
had been hit by shrapnel from an exploding shell (or possibly machine gun
bullets - trying to determine this still) in both legs and his right arm. The
Canadian Army Medical Corps
were doing a great job evacuating him, and a few days later he would arrive in
London.

When he arrived at the
hospital in London on November 7th, the admitting
doctor noted he was "very shell shocked" and septic.

On November 11th, the war
ended.

On November 14th, they
amputated his right leg.

On December 6th his
condition further deteriorated, and on December 9th they amputated his left leg
below the thigh. He died that same day.

This is one reason I
wear a poppy in the week of
November 11. To pay respect to family and strangers alike who served
and some of whom died in the service of our great country. Lest we forget.

Morgan Brewster, Vancouver.

Later in the story we find Louis Daem was sick during the time of the Battle
of Vimy Ridge at St Omer

Despite all that - Louis Daem has a very intersting service record.

What you see below is his annotated records based on his service file from
the Canadian National Archives which you can read here at the
LINK

Key dates of Louis Daem is distinguished by over laying Louis's movements and
the activities that were going on around him

We can see when he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force as a volunteer
from Revelstoke BC Canada.

What you are looking at to the left is the rec ord of Louis Daem contrasted to
the action that was going on around him. The Yellow HIghlights indicate major
battles while the remainder show the monthly totals of soldiers killed in action
as they stood duty all along the Vimy front lines and to the north in
Passchendale Belgium. Its a remarkable viewpoint because it shows the low
casualties of the 102nd Battalion were in contrast to intensive actions that are
shown in Yellow.

The intent of the web page for Louis Daem is to show you the long term nature
of his service and that of his fellow 102nd Battalion soldiers who, were there
until it as over as compared to our concepts of soldier employment today in far
flung conflicts like Afgahanistan or Bosnia where the soldier in a Canadian Army
unit will typically serve six months in the danger zone where random bombs and
fighting are just as dangerous as they were in 1917 - 1918 when Louis Daem
served almost 2 years exposed to injury or death.

Despite the risks to life and limb, Louis Daem is an excellent example
because he was ain a number of battles in which the 102nd Battalion were active
participants and we present these wit a brief synopsis and show you where on the
ground he served and helped drive back an enemy every bit as committed to
staying in France as the Canadians and French were to sending him back to
Germany.

The first thing we notice is it took the military training system eight
months from the time he signed on to his voyage from Halifax in mid August 1916.

His training was conducted in Bramshott Hampshire England and this was a busy
training base throughout the war. Here the soldiers took part in a long and well
thought out program to give them basic military training and prepare them for
more advanced instruction when they went across the channel before they went to
their assigned units in the field.

In early December 1916 he arrived at the Canadian Base on the west coast of
France wher he attend battle training. The base and locations are shown below at
Etaples France.

A
full account is at this link. The training
locations are at the top of the map.

Etaples
was also the site of a complex of medical hospitals were wounded soldiers were
treated and returned to duty or evacuated back to England for more serious
cases.

Etaples
is about 55 miles from Vimy

BATTLE LOCATIONS

Below you will find battle locations of activities Louis Daem is assumed to
have been present at. We say assumed as if he wasn't sick as per his service
record - then he would have had a part in the action.

Louis's Unit went to Passchendale where the were in a mainly Labour Role -
they carried supplies and wood for walkways so the soldiers could go back and
forth without having to go through the mud.

There are several pictures at the attached link describing where the 102nd
Battalion was deployed in Passchendael
here

Here are two images which show you the main locations 102nd Battalion was in

and

102nd Battalion was at two locations in dug in positions
as shown at this image below